GRANDAL NOT READY TO SWING BAT YET

Catcher expects to be ready when 50-game suspension ends in May

“Everything now is geared to being ready then,” the switch-hitting catcher said Sunday morning.

May 28 is the first day that Grandal is eligible to play. It will be the Padres’ 51st game of the season. Grandal’s 50-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s policy prohibiting performance-enhancing drugs ends the previous day.

“I will be ready to play on May 28,” said Grandal, who Saturday addressed his teammates in a closed-door meeting then read a statement to the media regarding his suspension. He will not discuss his suspension or his drug violation with the media.

“Ten games in Tucson right before the suspension ends will give me more than enough time to get ready for the season.”

What is interesting is Grandal is not ready to play right now. He won’t start hitting until early next week after not swinging a bat throughout the offseason.

Grandal finished last season with two inflamed tendons — one on each side of his left (catching) hand. Grandal said he suffered the injury in a game against Arizona and played with it for the last month of the season.

“He played with it last season and he would probably play with it right now,” said Padres manager Bud Black. “But there is no need. Let it heal.”

Grandal said he could catch with the injury, although it was difficult to swing the bat from the left side of the plate.

“It didn’t hurt to catch because the ball would hit the finger straight on,” Grandal said.

“But when I rolled my finger to either side, it hurt. I was OK hitting from the right side of the plate. But from the left side, I was swinging one-handed. I had a little celebration every time I saw the other team had a left-handed starter.

“So my main focus this offseason was catching, which was good because I needed to work on my catching more than my hitting. In a weird way, the injury probably helped me because I was forced to concentrate on one thing, catching.”

Said Black: “Yaz wanted to start hitting a month ago. We had to slow him down. Tendons take time to heal. There was no need to rush here.”

Grandal moved to the Phoenix area from South Florida shortly after Major League Baseball hit him with the 50-game suspension Nov. 7, a day before his 24th birthday. Grandal tested positive in September for testosterone.

During the offseason, Grandal began working with Pat Murphy, the former Arizona State head coach who will be the Padres’ manager at Triple-A Tucson this season.

“I love Pat,” said Grandal. “He recruited me for Arizona State out of high school, although I decided to stay home at the University of Miami. He helped me and explained a lot of things. We worked for a couple months on the catching.

“I want my catching to be much better than my hitting because that’s the first job of the position. We worked on a lot of things. He was a pitcher as a player, but he knows catching. We went over a lot of stuff.”

“They got some technical stuff done,” Black said. “Pat is a great teacher.”

Grandal said he expects to play in spring training exhibitions, although he didn’t know when and how often.

“I don’t think I’ll be ready to play when the games start next (Friday),” he said.

“My goal is to be 100 percent on May 28. When the season starts, I will stay here in Peoria and catch and hit against pitchers in extended spring training. When it comes time for me in May to get ready to play, I want to be in Tucson. I don’t want to start at a lower level. I want to see the best pitching I can see to get ready.”

Notes

• Right-handed reliever Jason Ray threw off the mound for the first time, leaving Jerry Sullivan as the lone pitcher who has yet to throw.

• Black said infielder Logan Forsythe (sore right knee) is “a bit” closer to performing in full drills than center fielder Cameron Maybin (sore right wrist).